Joe grinned, patted him friend on his back, and replied, "Listen Adam you"™re a good guy and all but you don"™t know what it"™s like to miss your family. I haven"™t seen Jodi or the kids in almost a year now."

"But Joe the last three mining settlements in this area were"¦"

"Yeah I know Adam!" Joe interrupted in an annoyed tone, "We all got the same briefing about the hazards of mining Tritelium. Besides we"™ve had this argument already, a couple of times now."

Adam took a moment to choose his next words carefully. Joe was his mentor and friend. He had taken the time to show him the ropes at the company. And though Adam knew this mining gig was a good job, the still unexplained destruction of the last three sites was enough to make anyone nervous.

In the end Adam just signed and dropped the subject. Joe was a great guy but stubborn as a mule. Besides mining Tritelium was very dangerous and the other three sites were probably just industrial"¦

[b:721951176a]KABOOM!!! [/b:721951176a]

***********************

As Adam climbed up off the ground he could see a huge fire in the distance. It seemed to be coming from the settlement"™s main power generator. That was easily confirmed by the total lack of power in the surrounding buildings.

"Adam"¦"

The young miner"™s apprentice looked down to see his mentor on the ground reaching for help. A piece of shattered glass from their dorm"™s entrance door was lodged in his leg. Adam knelt down and inspected the wound.

"Joe you don"™t look so hot." He announced, "I"™ll go and get some hel"¦"

"No!" Joe yelled spitting out blood, "Get to the airfield and find Jodi and the kids. If that fire makes it to the mine this whole place is going to go up!"

"But Joe you need"¦"

"Don"™t worry about me kid!" Joe hollered still spitting blood, "If they contain that fire the medics will find me. If not, then you got to get my family out of here."

Adam nodded and got up. Joe was tough and would be alright if the mine didn"™t kill everyone. Besides, someone was bound to show up sooner or later to check the dorms.

"GO!!!" Joe barked.

***********************

The journey to the airfield was surprising easy. Since the power generator was in the opposite direction, and all plant workers were trained to fight any fires that pop up in the settlement, the roads leading to the airfield were relatively abandoned. As Adam"™s car climbed the final hill leading to the airfield a cloud of black smoke greeted him. He slammed on the brakes and pulled to the side.

"What the hell!" The miner mumbled and climbed out of his vehicle.

The small airfield that served as the settlement"™s main lifeline to the outside world was completely destroyed. Every building had been reduced to rumble, some of which was smoldering. Cars, trucks, and aircraft were crushed flat. And there were these odd shaped craters all over the place. It was like a meteor shower but with a strange pattern that he just couldn"™t put his finger on.

Adam started to check the area for survivors and discovered that several of the craters had gruesome remains inside. The peculiar thing was that the people in the craters had been smashed flat, but a meteor impact would certainly have burnt the remains too. It was almost as if"¦

With that thought Adam ran back to his car and climbed onto the roof. From this elevated perspective the patterns that he just couldn"™t figure out became horrifying clear. Those craters weren"™t meteor holes, they were footprints! Those people had been stomped to death like bugs. But by what?

***********************

The closer Adam got to the center of the settlement the worse the destruction became. Although he drove most of the way back to the dorm, the road ahead was now blocked. The miner would now have to walk the rest of the way.

A dark cloud of smoke from the numerous nearby fires filled the air and choked his lungs. Ear curling screams, explosions, and an eerie rumble could be heard in the distance. Adam could feel the ground shake oddly under his feet, while praying it wasn"™t coming from the unstable mines below.

Yet the sights were by far the worst part, those giant footprints were everywhere. Whoever they belonged to seemed intent on stepping on everything and everyone in sight.

To make things worse, whatever this monster was it didn"™t always finish the job. Some of the victims of this rampage weren"™t quite finished off by the trampling. Most of these "survivors" had very little life left in their devastated bodies. The truly unlucky ones were only stepped on slightly and left to suffer a slow demise in a pool of their own blood. Whether this was by brutal design or carelessness was unclear.

Drawing deep inside for the courage, or stupidity, to continue Adam pressed on determined to help his injured mentor. The dorm was only a few blocks away now. If he could just"¦

[b:721951176a]ROAR!!!![/b:721951176a]

The spine tingling sound grabbed Adam"™s immediate attention. When he turned around the decision NOT to run like hell after the airfield seemed to be a fatal mistake.

It stood at least 60 feet tall and appeared to be a male wolf with human attributes. His body was covered in soot, blood, and gore from the destruction of his rampage.

A mischievous grin filled his face as the giant wolf lifted a foot up in the air and slowly swung it over Adam. Gore covered the sole from heel to toe raining blood down on him as it methodically descended. The trapped miner closed his eyes and froze. This was it, he was about to be stepped on like a cockroach by a giant monster wolf. If he had just run after the"¦

What was to be his last thought was interrupted by a sharp jolt in the side. As Adam felt his body flying to the side he opened his eyes. In an instant he watched as the giant foot pressed Joe into the pavement. His friend and mentor pushed him out of the way at the last moment.

With no time to morn, Adam climbed to his feet but was quickly pinned back down by the monster wolf"™s bloody foot. Apparently that thing wasn"™t impressed by Joe"™s sacrifice. Oddly, instead of deadly pressure the wolf started to gently rub the sole of his foot all over him. The bloody gore covered the traumatized man"™s cloths, filling his mouth and throat. Instead of being squashed it looked like Adam was going to be suffocated by his mentor"™s remains...

***********************

"When you"™re done in there come into the living room."

"Alright Grandma." The young wolf replied obediently.

It took almost an hour to get all that gunk out of his fur this time. When he got back the young wolf was almost completely black and his footpaws were killing him. Why do those damn bugs got to make their nests out of rock? Stomping on those things hurts!

After a quick once over with the fur dryer, the young wolf was out and heading for the living room. Inside Grandma Felicia was waiting for him on the couch. She had a towel in her lap, a bag a candy in one hand, and a bottle of lotion in the other.

The young wolf smiled and sat down. He put his feet on his Grandma"™s lap, ripped open the bag of candy, and started popping the goodies in his mouth, a familiar routine.

Grandma Felicia took one of his paws in her hand and started to gently massage the sole. The young wolf grimaced as the pampering actually hurt a little at first. After a moment though the pain went away and the rubbing started to feel quite good. A huge grin soon appeared, he closed his eyes, and let out a sign.

"How"™s that feel honey?"

"Good Grandma." The young wolf replied and popped more candy in his mouth.

"Were there a lot of the buggers this time?" The elder wolf asked as she started rubbing lotion into the younger wolf"™s footpaw.

"Yeah and they built more nests too." The young wolf replied. "Those rock nests are hard to smash."

"Did you get them all?" She asked and started on the younger wolf"™s other foot.

The young wolf let out a soft yelp, and then a soft sign, as pain was turned into pleasure. He took a moment to enjoy how his grandma rewards him after a day in the field before continuing.

"I squished as many as I could find." The young wolf replied in a proud tone. "And the fire should have got the rest of them."

"Good job sweetheart." The elder wolf replied as she continued to massage his feet. "Those little buggers just insist on tearing up my beautiful yard. They deserve what they get in my opinion."

"And they keep coming back?" The young wolf asked.

"That"™s why you need make sure to get them all sweetie. If you don"™t they just come back and make bigger nest." The elder wolf replied, her malice toward the creatures made clear by her tone.

"Yes Grandma." The young wolf acknowledged and closed his eyes.

Truth was the young wolf had really come to enjoy his summers with Grandma. If he got them all and they didn"™t come back then Grandma wouldn"™t need him to destroy their nest. And then he wouldn"™t get any rewards.

Moreover he liked squishing the bugs and tearing down their nests, it was fun. Sure it made his footpaws hurt but Grandma gave really incredible paw rubs. Come to think of it, stepping on the bugs felt kind of good too.

"Well we"™ll take a walk out into the field tomorrow and make sure that nest is taken care of." The elder wolf announced and smiled.

"Yes Grandma." The young wolf acknowledged obediently. That was one chore he didn"™t mind at all.

"Good. Now you relax and let me take care of you."

***********************

"Sweetheart, time to go to bed." The elder wolf announced as she gently stroked the fur on the younger wolf"™s head.

"Yes Grandma." He replied, opened his eyes, and climbed off of the couch.

Grandma rubbed his footpaws for almost two hours and boy did he feel great. His feet were so sensitive now that he could feel the little imperfections in Grandma"™s worn carpet in the hallway. When he got to his room the young wolf sat on the bed and curled his toes. He loved getting pampered after a day in the field.

After a moment, the young wolf remembered the one last chore that needed to be taken care of. He climbed off the mattress and pulled a shoebox from under his bed. A single bug, covered in blood, cowered inside. The mischievous youth grabbed the little captive and carried it to the bathroom. Once there he closed the door and placed it on the hard tile floor.

"So you thought you could escape, huh!" The wolf announced spitefully and gently pinned it to the floor with his foot.

The tiny bug struggled frantically to get lose. Yet its efforts served only to provide the angry wolf with a sense of satisfaction. This creature was totally at his mercy. Clawing and beating on his feet tickled a little but didn"™t bother him one bit. If Grandma wasn"™t looking to put him to bed, the wolf might have even let the bug continue with its useless resistance for a while longer.

Instead, the young wolf slowly started to press down on the insect. Its furless body squirming against his now ultra receptive pawpads. He could hear the thing squeak and feel its bones start to crack. The sensations were extremely vivid now. As the pressure increased so did the cracks until the wolf felt a moist pop. Warm blood bubbled up between his toes and the youth smiled. Now that felt nice"¦

For a brief moment the young macro felt sorry for the little one beneath him. It didn"™t stand a chance. But that pity quickly passed as he recalled all the grief these bugs caused his Grandma. Besides, it was only a bug and"¦

"Sweetie." The wolf"™s grandmother hollered, "Finish up in there and get to bed. I think we got one more nest in the field for you to work on tomorrow."

Not for any of the characters, no I'm sad for myself right now. In comparison, my story is, well, crap. I don't know where to go next, and you have a way of simplifying things into short sections, I... ramble...

I've had an idea of where I want my story to go, but WOW. Your descriptiveness is unmatched...

Well anyway I guess I'll go back to trying to write my crappy ass story because leaving something unfinished makes me feel, sadder.

Not for any of the characters, no I'm sad for myself right now. In comparison, my story is, well, crap. I don't know where to go next, and you have a way of simplifying things into short sections, I... ramble...

I've had an idea of where I want my story to go, but WOW. Your descriptiveness is unmatched...

Well anyway I guess I'll go back to trying to write my crappy ass story because leaving something unfinished makes me feel, sadder.

Well thank you for your compliments. I always like to hear from my readers.

Concerning your own work, if you are new to writing then you shouldn't be comparing yourself to more experienced writers. That would be like me comparing my work to ROGUE's. Here go some writing tips that may help you in your literary pursuits.

First keep your stories short and to the point. When writing my stories I keep the length down to 6 pages. Shorter is better when writing macro, helps to keep the reader's attention.

Second, PROOFREAD over and over again. You should never post a first or second draft of a story. By the time you post you should have proofread it several times, rewrites whether major or minor are part of this process.

Third, don't be afraid to rewrite a story or scrap it all together. Hell I just scraped 2 1/2 chapters of my "Growing Up" online novel because I didn't feel they were taking the story in the right the direction. Don't post something just because you put work into. Remember that everything you post is essentially published, so put your best foot forward. (Pawslut pun intended )

And last, writing is a skill that must be practiced to get good at. If it's really hard for you now give it some time. Like most skills, you will get better with time.

Good luck with your stories and try not to get too frustrated. It's a difficult skill to learn but worth it if you enjoy story telling.

I make comparisons to everything. Sorry, it is my nature, it keeps my double-edged sword of criticism sharp.

Compare you to ROUGE? I am not daft sir. It is an unspoken law not to make any comparisons with ROGUE if you wish to live.

Keeping it short: my greatest weakness, I feel the need to inflate my works with adverbs and such. But I suppose I will try and cut down and use the thesaurus for fewer more descriptive words.

Proofread: I really need to do this more.

Scrapping: I scrapped chapter 2 halfway in, but mostly most scrapping happens as the ideas hit me throughout life.

Practice: Well I post in hope of criticism. Criticism helps me improve. So yes, I guess it is given that my first few stories will look really weird looking back in a years time. Hindsight is 20/20 after all.